Canadian Heritage committee  People in rural municipalities are not forced to go digital. Analog service will still be provided in rural areas, and no changes will occur. This is one of the steps that have been implemented. A great many television companies that provide services on channels 52 to 69 in rura

Canadian Heritage committee  The space right now is planned for television broadcasters. What can they do with that space? Well, moving from analog to digital allows a more efficient use. That's why you're clearing up what you're mentioning there. They get to keep a level of spectrum similar to what they wer

Canadian Heritage committee  Certainly. First of all, compared to the U.S., we are slightly further ahead on cable and satellite penetration, so there is an advantage there. We mentioned that the U.S. converted two years back. That extra time, being a fast follower in this case, has allowed greater penetra

Canadian Heritage committee  We have not had an onslaught yet of consumer requests or information. What we've been trying to do is, in the meantime, minimize the impact on loss of service. That's been our objective to date. We were concerned that Canadians, even if they are few in number, should be able to m

Canadian Heritage committee  I think the commission has moved away from the third one. Having moved from being a few years behind the United States and boxes as low as $30, we think the latter one is no longer necessary. What is key right now for us is coordinating. That's what we're working on with the De

Canadian Heritage committee  That's what we're looking at.

Canadian Heritage committee  Essentially, in the mandatory markets, those for whom the television stations will be converting, we're looking at around the 900,000 number. So in their case, there are various options, but the boxes, thanks to us being a couple of years behind the U.S., manufacturing being what

Canadian Heritage committee  Yes. That's more or less where we are, but that is a very high number because we're being on the safe side in estimating both, those who will need to purchase equipment or potentially lose service.

Canadian Heritage committee  The important message here is not to start too early, because after all, the main thing here is that this will not affect 93% of Canadians. That is clear.

Canadian Heritage committee  Just to make it clear, spectrum in Canada is primarily regulated by the Department of Industry. Those are the people who slice and dice the spectrum, provide for its uses, and auction off what can be auctioned off for mobile uses. We at the CRTC only handle the broadcasting assig

Canadian Heritage committee  That's not for us at the CRTC to explain. We have learned from the U.S. experience that direct subsidy mechanisms are not necessary.

Canadian Heritage committee  That's what we're about to embark upon. That's the last phase of what we've been working on with industry.

Canadian Heritage committee  As I indicated earlier in the questioning, we have been able to work within the confines of the current policy to come up with a mechanism that minimizes the impact of loss of service to Canadians, and we've found a way to ensure that those who will lose service will be provided

Canadian Heritage committee  In the U.S. at the time, the boxes were valued at about $75, and I believe they provided coupons to households for about $40, which brought the cost to them down to about $35. Here in Canada, being a couple of years behind and having learned from that experience, manufacturing,

Canadian Heritage committee  Industry Canada has the folks who are the specialists in that domain. We only deal with repurposing the broadcasting spectrum and reassigning it to the various broadcasters pursuant to their licences.